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finds again conditions differing from those which obtain both at Ealing and at Margate. The children are sent to Dr. Stainer from some sixty different Boards, and are mostly paid for by the Poor Law Guardians. Some of them go to Dr. Stainer’s homes as mere babes. e prefers to have them as young as possible, believing that education becun carly is the most clfectual. Whilst some of his charges are younger than any at Kaling or at Margate, he does something for the older ones which Dr. Elliott so far has not been able to do for his pupils. He has started workshops in which boys are taught bootmaking, tailoring, carpen- tering, wood carving, and other trades, and he is able in the course of time to ascertain what callings they are individually most suited for. Imducnutcn and Slu](l work naturally plays a considerable part 1n the curriculum at the Pentonville Homes. As regards the givls, they are taught cvery sort of domestic dut laundry work, &c.,
so that, given the opportunity, they arc fitted to accept places as servants, semp- stresses, laundry maids, &c. Let us take a peep first at the latest arrivals. At the moment [ saw them the little ones were having their tea. There was no sort of shyness about the majority of them. Many
KINDERGARTEN = PENTONVIL LI
ARE EDUCATED 255 greeted me with a smile ; one bO not long since rescued from the streets, in his delight proved romewhat ntr actable, and one g1r] closed her hand and shook her thumb at me most vigorously. This | learned meant ‘‘good' ; whether that she con- sidered hersclf the good one of the bunch, or that it was good of me to come to =cc them, I do not know. Th: method of tcaching is pretty much the same as at Margate. Those who can be taught to speal are taught, bus the conditions keep the number small, The workshops are the chietf novelty in Dr. Stainer's homes. "The boys scem to take great interest in their work, and some have proved not only cihicient, but cxcellent workmen. One adjunct to the carpenters’ room gave rise to an anccdote worth recording. A steam engine in the laundry beneath 1s used for the purposes of the saw-bench and the turning-lathe. The boys have learnt that the broad belt of leather which comes up through the floor 1s moved by the machinery below. There was lying on the floor part of a tree trunk. They know that trees come out of the ground, and being asked how they grow, they conclude (hat the ame sort of hiddcn power forces them up. The torces of Nature are not casily madce comprchensible to them. In the same way they are not readily convinced that the stars arce not holes in the heavens, and arc only visible when llu lights.on the other side are it Space, time, and ahstrzlct ideas generally arc beyond the majority of pcople who can hold hourly communion with their fel- lows., What wonder that they should be almost wholly be- yvond the deaf ? The deafl mute, all unconscious of his great mhrmity 15 he I35, 15 @ very SUpCTior person. There 1s w consensus of opimon bearing out this statement. Those pcople who are ready to regard the deaf and dumb as stupid would be well advised some- times to take care